


Accuverity

by Perhapsormaybe



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: Confessions, F/M, Forced truth telling, after the manga
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-24 17:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21981313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Perhapsormaybe/pseuds/Perhapsormaybe
Summary: It's been months since the failed wedding, and Akane's acting funny. At least, according to Ranma. She's not being her usual jealous self. Ranma thinks she's up to something, and looking to even the score he seeks out Dr Tofu's help. But Tofu's got his own ideas on how to make things better for the couple, and a truth telling point may just solve some problems...or create them.
Relationships: Saotome Ranma/Tendou Akane
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	Accuverity

**Author's Note:**

> This story just flowed out and kept going longer than anticipated so it's going to be at least 2 chapters instead of a one shot. If not more. These characters are ridiculous and no one is doing what I asked them to do.

The failure of a wedding had been months ago, and for the most part Akane and Ranma had fallen back into their hold habits. Arguing over small things, verbally and physically sparring and just refusing to get along. At first.

It was about four months to the day of the failure, and for what felt like the millionth time Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi were screaming over Ranma in the school yard. Shampoo had him by the right arm, Ukyo by the left and Kodachi was awkwardly pulling both legs. 

“This isn't what it looks like!” Ranma insisted to Akane, who had only moments ago come across the scene. He struggled to get out of the other girls' grip without hurting them.

“Ok,” Akane merely shrugged at the scene and shifted her backpack. “See you at home after you've dealt with it, then.”

“I told you it isn't--...what? You're not mad?” Ranma stopped struggling against the girls, which gave Shampoo enough leverage to pull him to her side.

“See! I win, Ranma come home with me!” She said, grabbing him and snuggling him to her chest. He grabbed her arms and pushed her away, going to catch up to Akane.

“You mean you ain't jealous?” he asked as he caught up to her. She was moving quickly as always and was already off of school property. But Ranma was faster, and easily caught up. “Cause you know I didn't ask for this, right? They started this whole thing, I-”

“Ranma?” Akane stopped short and turned back to face him. “I just. I don't care anymore.” She got it out, but then look confused. The truth of the matter was, for some reason...she didn't feel jealous right now. She thought it was annoying, and stupid, of course, but the typical jealous pang wasn't there. 

_She doesn't care..._ Ranma circled Akane, his eyes desperately searching her face for a sign. _So she doesn't care about me anymore?_ he stopped moving, suddenly overcome. Akane kept walking. If she noticed his sudden depression, she wasn't giving it any attention.

“Are you coming home or not?”

 _She sounds so bored,_ Ranma noted, his gloomy mood building. “You really telling me ya don't want to sock me one for that? I probably left myself wide open, or maybe I said something and they thought I was flirting. Nothing?!”

But Akane had continued to walk, hurrying home. Her nose wasn't in the air the way it usually was when she was only pretending to be above all of this. She looked pretty normal, actually, Ranma had to admit. Neither happy nor unhappy. Ranma jumped and landed in her path. 

“Could you at least talk to me?”

“What about? You said they started it, it wasn't your fault and I'm choosing to believe you,” she shrugged. “Did you not want me to believe you?” she tensed up as Ranma's hand went out to her forehead. “What are you doing now?”

“Checking for a fever. You're not acting like yourself. You don't feel warm...”

“I'm not sick,” she moved his hand off of her but didn't let go of it. “I just want to go home. We have a ton of tests coming up and I haven't been doing so well in those classes. Plus I want to get a jog in tonight and a really long bath,” To his surprise, she gave his hand a squeeze before letting it go. “So I am going home. You can go back and deal with the others or you can come home, too. Your choice.”

She practically skipped her way from there, leaving Ranma frozen behind her. “Akane, if this is some kind of trick I ain't falling for it!” he called after her retreating form. She didn't respond, or even turn around to acknowledge him. 

_Ok, Saotome...think. She's acting weird. She didn't smack ya for the other fianceés getting in your face and she believed you when you told her what happened. This is a good thing. This is good._ Ranma paced as he thought. _Or maybe this is all a trap and she wants you to think she's ok so she can get you really good when you try to go to sleep..._

Well, that wasn't likely, he realized. Akane wasn't one to ambush, partially because moving silently wasn't her strong suit. If she meant to unbalance him, though, she was on the right path. It wasn't the first time she'd thrown him for a loop. Though, come to think of it, it had never seemed like that was her aim. He just got flustered around her sometimes. And if he was being honest, those moments where he got flustered were becoming more and more frequent since they'd gotten back from China. 

She had caught him staring at her just last night when she was only sitting there eating her rice. And instead of getting mad or asking if there was something on her face, she'd just smiled at him. 

Ranma wasn't sure he'd liked the way his heart had sped up at that smile. As each week passed she'd smiled at him more and screamed less. Some days he'd liked the change up, and other days he'd kind of missed her yelling at him. Not that he'd liked the yelling, but it was proof in his mind that she cared. 

_Man, pops really messed me up if I actually **want** her yellin' at me_ Ranma shook his head, making a mental note to slap his old man around a little later. “So she's actin' funny. Who cares? I don't care,” he said, laughing maniacally to himself as he went on his way. “Two can play at that game. I can play nice, if it's just to spring a trap.”

“Oh! Ranma, hello,” Dr Tofu looked up to see Ranma in his clinic, smiling in a deranged way. “Can I help you?”

“Doc, I need to see about repressing some things.”

“I'm not a psychiatrist, Ranma,” Dr Tofu pushed up his glasses. He decided not to mention that he thought both Saotomes could greatly benefit from actually seeing a mental health professional. In retrospect, so could most of Nerima. 

“Not like that,” Ranma sat down on the examining table. “Akane's been to see you recently, right? And you pressed some nerve down that keeps her from exploding on people.”

Dr Tofu looked bewildered. “No. What makes you think that?”

“C'mon, doc, you must know something! She's being nice and she hasn't screamed or hit me in a few weeks. It's freaking me out!”

“You're here because your fiancée ...is ...being nice to you?” 

“Yeah, and it means there's something wrong with her. Either tell me how to make her normal again or help me get even with her!”

“Ranma,” Dr Tofu tapped his bottom lip with his finger for a moment, contemplating. “Would you be able to believe me if I told you that Akane is merely a sweet girl and you two just had a rough start? Perhaps you should be grateful that she's being nice to you.”

Ranma shook his head. “No way. It's a trap.”

The doctor gave a half smirk in response and patted a hand on Ranma's right shoulder. “All right. Well, if you're so certain...” before Ranma could ask what was happening, Tofu squeezed his shoulder, digging in the pressure with this thumb and then tapping along the bone with his pinky. “This may set you on even footing with her. But I assure you I never touched Akane, so if this isn't just her being kinder to you, I don't know what's going on.”

“What did you just do?”

“Oh, you'll find out in about ...twenty minutes,” Tofu patted him on the back and sent him on his way. If it weren't for Ranma's great respect for the doctor (or how often they needed his services), he would have beaten an explanation out of him. Instead, he had to settle for trudging his way home, grateful at least that whatever the doc had done to him, he could still move.

“Ah, there you are, Ranma,” Nabiki greeted him at the door. “We were wondering when you would show up. Fiancées troubling you again?”

“Knock it off, Nabiki, I've never done a damn thing on purpose with those girls and I never would,” Ranma snorted, making his way around her and into the house. 

“And why's that?”

“Because they're not Akane!” 

Ranma's hands both flew to his mouth as though they could get the words back in. 

“Weeelllll,” Nabiki smirked, “Aren't you being nice and direct tonight?”

“Tofu did something to me,” Ranma growled, “He did something to me that makes me -” he was going to say something that made him lie, or made him say the most ridiculous things. Instead, what tumbled out was “he did something so I can only tell the truth...” 

Nabiki clapped her hands. “Oh, thank goodness, there is nothing interesting on tv tonight. I was worried I was going to be bored! Now...what exactly do you want to pay me to keep me from telling Akane?”

“Telling her what, exactly? Why would she care?”

“Mmm, why would she? I wonder if that little truth spot only makes everything that comes out the truth or it makes it so that you have to answer questions? So. My sister. Is she cute?”

Ranma groaned and mumbled his response.

“Oh, poor Ranma. Just so you know, I heard that 'yes',” Nabiki patted him on the head. “So it looks like not only do you have to tell the truth, you can't just keep your mouth shut,” Ranma turned on his heel. “I know you're not about to head out there. If Ukyo or Shampoo...or even Kodachi finds you and you say something about how in love you are with Akane to them it's probably not going to end well.”

“I never _said_ I love her!” Ranma insisted. “And I can take those girls on, it's fine.”

“I don't mean that. I mean, if they find out the truth and it comes from your mouth they may try to take it out on Akane. And you wouldn't want that, would you?”

Ranma seemed to crumple. “No.”

“Good. Now, we'll keep this between us for now, ok?”

“How much is this going to cost me?” Ranma muttered, mentally trying to do some calculations. He was flat broke at the moment and Nabiki often charged interest. 

“Ranma, I'm hurt,” Nabiki put a hand to her heart. “All I want is for you and my sister to be happy together, the way our fathers intend--...” she started laughing. “I'm sorry, normally I'm a decent actress but this is going to be ridiculous. The truth is 1 – I am looking forward to how hilarious this is going to be and 2 – maybe you two can stop being stupid and just admit you want to be together. I do actually want to see Akane happy, you know.”

“Is Akane sick?” Ranma figured that Nabiki might genuinely know what was going on with her sister. “She hasn't been being as mean to me and she didn't get jealous over the other girls and I was ...” he tried to trail off, but whatever Tofu had done to him it wouldn't allow him out. “I was kinda upset that she wasn't jealous. Cause usually with Akane, if she's jealous that's how you know she cares about ya, so if she's not jealous does that mean she's bored of me?”

“Ranma,” Nabiki put a hand on his shoulder. “I mean this from the bottom of my heart,” she stared deeply into his eyes. “You two are complete morons.”

“Gee, thanks,” Ranma was glad to find he could still use sarcasm. 

“Ranma, Nabiki!” Kasumi joined them in the front room, a pot in one hand and a ladle in the other. I'm sorry to bother you both, but I just got a call and I believe that some others will be joining us tonight.”

“Others?” Nabiki raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, it seems that Shampoo believes that Ranma here was acting funny today,” Kasumi smiled at him, “And wants to check on him. Which means the others will probably follow, since they usually do.”

“Sorry for the trouble, Kasumi,” Ranma said sincerely. She never looked out of sorts and just kind of rolled with things, but he figured it had to be hard on her sometimes to have to do so much extra work. 

“It's no trouble, but I could use some help in the kitchen,” she pursed her lips and lowered her voice. “I have Akane cleaning up a bit and told her I didn't need help with dinner, but the truth is I could use some help chopping some vegetables.”

“I'm on it,” Nabiki offered. “Ranma can go help Akane clean.”

“What?! I never agreed to that!”

“Don't you want to spend time with her?”

“You know I do, you jerk,” Ranma muttered so that only Nabiki could hear. He was starting to get the hang of this now – he couldn't avoid saying the truth but no one could make him say it completely audibly. 

“So, off to find her, scoot!” Nabiki gave him a pat on the rump, causing him to blush. But it also had the desired effect of spurring him off in Akane's direction. He found her cleaning up the dojo.

“Are we eating in the dojo?” Ranma asked. It wouldn't be the first time. Sometimes Kasumi insisted on it when she thought dinner was likely to turn into a fight anyway. She figured it may as well be in a room that was built for it.

“Hmm? No, I got the other rooms cleaned already. And the dojo's always good for clearing my head, even if I'm not fighting,” she picked up a free weight and tossed it to where it belonged. “So they're all heading over here again, huh? I guess Cologne called Kasumi to warn her, and promised to send some ramen.”

“That old bat isn't as bad as I thought she was,” Ranma admitted. Well, there was a truth he wouldn't typically admit. He joined Akane in moving the weights and equipment back to where they belonged. _What was I so worried about? We don't have to talk about our relationship._

“Ranma?”

“Hmm?”

“I'm sorry about today. I think you thought I don't care, but the truth is,” Akane picked up the rag she was using to dust with and began wringing it. “I ...guess I don't care, but I do care? Ugh,” She tapped herself on the side of her head with her knuckles. “This isn't coming out right!”

“We don't have to talk!” Ranma urged. “We could just focus on cleaning?”

“You don't want to talk about us?” She bit her lip and cocked her head to the side. Ranma felt his resolve give away.

“I would actually really like to talk about us but I'm afraid of what you're going to say,” he shoved his fist in his mouth. He was going to get Dr Tofu after this, he swore it. 

Akane perked up. “Great! I just...I don't know where to start, so give me a minute,” She shifted from one foot to the other. “Ok. So. After China, I guess I just realized there was no need to be jealous anymore. I mean, not immediately after China.”

It was obvious to both of them that she was dancing around Ranma admitting that he loved her. He was thankful that she wasn't bringing it up directly. 

“I started watching you a bit more carefully after that, and I realized that for the most part you don't start things with those girls and you try to get away from them when they do start it. And I maybe didn't listen to you enough about it, and I'm sorry.”

“You are?”

“You don't have to act that surprised about it,” she growled, crossing her arms. “I can be nice. And I realized, my being jealous was just me being insecure. And that if you really want to be with me, you will be. And if you don't...I think you'll make it clear.” She moved her hands to her hips, clearly issuing a challenge. “So I want to know. Do you want to be with me?”

Ranma had taken off running and jumped through a window at the moment she finished her question.

_Can't do it, not ready, can't do it...can't tell her I want to be with her_

“Ranma, you jerk!” She called after him. “Get back here and just tell me!” she hopped through the window after him. 

He had started to swing himself up into a tree when she shouted “I will break things off!” He paused and turned around, coming to land on the ground in front of her, his hands in his pockets. “If you don't want to be with me I don't want to keep pretending. So just tell me the truth. Do you want to be with me or not?”

“Well, do you want to be with me?” He demanded. Being a student of Anything Goes Martial Arts seemed to be beneficial here. He couldn't technically avoid the truth, but he could delay it. After all, he wouldn't want to be with her if she didn't want to be with him. He mentally congratulated himself on the loophole, figuring Akane would never give him an honest answer. But instead-

“Of course I do,” she said it so softly he had to strain to hear. “I'm in love with you, you dummy. So I want to be with you. But I don't want you to feel forced into being with me, just because our parents decided. So all you have to say is that you don't want to be with me.”

“I do,” he coughed and tried to avoid eye contact with her. “I do want to be with you.” 

“Because?” she prompted, elbowing him in the ribs. 

“Ow,” he grumbled. “Because I l-.llo--” he swallowed hard. “I love you too, Akane.”

“Isn't that sweet, Shampoo?” Ukyo's voice rang through the trees. Ranma went on his guard and Akane followed suit, the pair back to back to try to find the source of the voice.

“Shampoo no agree. Ranma, it not nice to lie!” 

“Where are they even at?” Ranma looked from tree to tree but couldn't spot them. Not until he felt one of Shampoo's chúi come flying towards Akane. He caught it in midair and set it down. 

“Is this the truth, Ranma honey?” Ukyo and Shampoo both appeared out of seemingly nowhere. “You can't tell me you actually _love_ her, do you?”

“Yes, I do,” Ranma again clamped his hands over his mouth. “I am going to kill that doctor!”

“Doctor? Doctor Tofu?” Akane asked.

“Not right now, we don't have time for this,” Since Ukyo and Shampoo were bearing down on them, it was actually the truth and Ranma wasn't forced to go into further detail. He picked Akane up and tried to hightail it out of there.

“You love me, don't you, Ranma?” Ukyo tried.

“Only as a friend, Uk-chan!” With his arms full of Akane, Ranma couldn't stop the truth from coming up. 

“Airen, it ok if you only like Ukyo, but how you feel about Shampoo?”

“You're sort of a friend but sometimes you're really annoying and you scare the crap out of me!” The answer stunned both Ukyo and Shampoo enough that they stopped their attack, but both girls were now closing in on him. 

“How about Kodachi?” Ukyo suggested.

“Are you kidding me? She's the worst, the only one worse than her is that brother of hers,” Ranma involuntarily shuddered. 

“Ranma...can you not lie?” Shampoo asked, the first one to figure it out. 

“Is that it, Ranma?” Akane asked, getting out of his arms and joining the other two girls. 

“Yes, Dr Tofu hit some sort of pressure point on me and now I have to tell the truth and I can't even just be quiet about it if someone asks me a direct question. “

“And why did he do that to you, Ranma-honey?” Ukyo crossed her arms. “He seems like a decent doctor to me.”

“He is. I wanted to know what he did to Akane to suddenly make her start acting nice to me.”

“Akane has been acting funny lately,” Shampoo agreed. “Refusing to fight Shampoo. Thought she just figured Ranma belong to Shampoo and decided to quit.”

“So why haven't you been fighting over him?” Ukyo demanded. “You usually at least tell us to knock it off, but the last few times you've kind of ignored us,” she blinked a few times and turned on Shampoo. “What happened in China, Shampoo?!”

“Shampoo already told you. Akane nearly die, Shampoo got brain controlled, Ranma save them both and I released the panda from being my servant.”

“And how did Akane come back from nearly dying?” Ukyo demanded, her attention now turned on Ranma. “You got the water back on for her but Mousse and Ryoga told me she didn't wake up immediately. What did you say to get her to wake up?”

“I never said it out loud!” Ranma insisted. He paused. “Hey, wait, that means that's gotta be the truth,” he turned to Akane. “I told you I never said I loved you out loud, I just thought it!”

“You what?!” Ukyo and Shampoo chorused. 

“And I think it's time we get out of here,” Ranma picked Akane back up again and took off. 

“Fine with me, Ranma,” she had her arms crossed and to his surprise was glaring at him. “But wherever we're going, we're going to have a long talk when we get there.”

**Author's Note:**

> If I kept going this would be a little too long so it will be at LEAST 2 chapters. Hopefully the next part is coming soon, but this is where I needed to leave off for now.


End file.
